It’s surprisingly easy for a short draft to get into bad shape when you try to address everything at once. You spot a bad transition, then you fix a comma, replace a weak verb, re-evaluate paragraph placement, go back to fix that same sentence again, etc. You have a lot of tracked changes, but they don’t seem purposeful. Four-pass review gives each pass a singular purpose, which helps make sure your edits are purposeful and effective.
The first pass is for structure. Go through the text completely, fixing no sentences. What is the text for, and who is it for? Write down your best guess in a sentence or two. What does each paragraph do for that overall argument? Introduce the subject, explain a point, give an example, answer a question, conclude an argument? Cut, move, combine, or split any paragraphs where it feels like the structure is missing a step, or includes too much. For this pass, you’re ignoring the writing as much as possible unless it actually prevents you from understanding the overall point.
The second pass is for clarity. Does each paragraph focus on a single point? Does the topic sentence for each paragraph tell the reader enough to make the point easy to follow (in other words, the point doesn’t need the first sentence of the body to “kick in”)? Are words like this, it, something, anything, and so on used to refer to anything but a single specific noun or verb (i.e. replace them or add the missing word before them)? Do paragraph transitions make sense, or could they be more explicit? Is that the first time we’re being told that a transition has occurred? For this pass, it’s not about the writing being great, it’s just about the writing not making the point confusing.
The third pass is for copy editing (aka line edits). Read each sentence. Are there any clunky or overly long sentences? Read them aloud to check the rhythm and find anything that’s off. Are there any unnecessary words (i.e. that aren’t necessary for context or emphasis) that can be cut? For any overly long sentence, see if you should rewrite it to break into 2 sentences, or just fix up the current one. What words can be deleted? Does any weak verbs get replaced? Do you notice too many repetitions? Do any sentences feel similar (like a repeated pattern)? What can be reworded or deleted to fix that? Choose the fix that fits best into the current paragraph, rather than just picking the one that’s shorter or easiest to implement.
The fourth pass is to double-check for any inconsistencies in the spelling, capitalization, etc., as well as any missed grammar or punctuation corrections. Keep a list of any decisions you make, especially any words that are capitalized or not capitalized or that you’ve chosen one way of writing something (like a date) in one place and another way of writing it in another place. It’s easier to do this pass at the end (as opposed to the start) because you’re less likely to proofread things that are moving or getting deleted again.
To start practicing the four pass method, take an existing text of about three or five paragraphs long. Make a copy to edit and keep a copy with no edits. Go through the text one pass at a time (do not do multiple passes back-to-back), checking to see what’s changed since the original copy and determining whether it was a structural, copy-editing, or consistency check kind of edit. If you notice that you made a change that should have gone in an earlier pass (i.e., you noticed that a sentence was weak when you got to the copy editing pass), just note that somewhere and make it a priority when you go back to that pass instead of starting over with a new pass.
Again, this method is not meant to be followed to a T for every text. Some may require more time on the structure, others may require a more in-depth copy edit than the standard. It’s a great tool to keep yourself focused and on track, rather than getting overwhelmed by small changes that don’t seem to add up to making a much larger difference to the draft. When the mouse cursor is jumping all over your text making tiny changes to different commas, paragraph placement, tone, words, and you notice that you haven’t gone past the first sentence of a paragraph in a while, STOP. Decide what kind of pass you’re on and focus on that until you’re ready for the next one.